Electronic commerce using personal preferences

ABSTRACT

A system to enable a person to interact in both a physical world and an electronic world is described. The system includes a server that delivers news and information. The server includes a matching process that matches information from a client with information from other hosts that are also sending information to the server. The matching process includes matching wrapper information from a received capsule, the wrapper information including information that determines the use of the information content of the capsule. The system also includes a client user device. The client user device includes a database of personal interests and a process that either offers and/or requests services and information based on the personal interests. The process includes a process to wrap content with control information designating ownership of the content, the time span the content is valid, and rules specifying how content is to be matched.

BACKGROUND

This invention relates to electronic commerce.

Computers are often used to store and maintain databases. Databases canbe of many types. One type of database stores data in tabular form,e.g., relational databases. Other databases include hierarchicaldatabases and flat-file structures that are similar to a table or aspreadsheet. Another type of database is the so-called object-orienteddatabase.

The world-wide-web stores information in resources that can be foundthrough an address such as a uniform resource locator (URL). Wirelessdevices are also known for use with the Internet. Data exchange withwired of wireless devices involves transmission of data via E-mailaddress or web pages. Such data transmission can be secure, but dataregarding personal preferences can be obtained by host systems whetheror not intended.

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of the present invention, a method of notifyingusers of electronic services includes dynamically matching custominformation stored on distributed databases with information that usershold in a user device on topics of interest.

According to an additional aspect of the present invention, a clientdevice includes a computing device that executes computer instructionsand a database of personal interests. The client device also includes aprocess that either offers and/or requests services and informationbased on personal interests of a user. The process includes a process towrap content with control information designating ownership of thecontent, the time span the content is valid, and rules specifying howcontent is to be matched.

According to an additional aspect of the present invention, a system toenable a person to interact in both a physical world and an electronicworld includes a server that delivers news and information. Theelectronic world has virtual stores and enables online interactionsthrough wired and wireless networks. The system also includes a clientuser device. The client user device includes a database of personalinterests and a process that either offers and/or requests services andinformation based on the personal interests. The process includes aprocess to wrap content with control information designating ownershipof the content, the time span the content is valid, and rules specifyinghow content is to be matched.

According to an additional aspect of the present invention, a serversystem includes a matching process that matches information from aclient with information from other hosts that are also sendinginformation to the server. The matching process includes matchingwrapper information from a received capsule, the wrapper informationincluding information that determines the use of the information contentof the capsule.

According to an additional aspect of the present invention, a method forconducting commerce where information and services are provided tocustomers includes selectively activating shareable database capsulesfrom information contained in personalized, shared databases. The methodalso includes distributing the shareable capsules over a networkcommunications medium as matchable capsules, matching the matchablecapsules with other complementary matchable capsules and making theexistence and results of a match of a pair of matchable capsules visibleonly if matched capsules have compatible visibility settings.

According to an additional aspect of the present invention, a method formaintaining privacy in exchange of data includes attaching a directionalvisibility flag to a request or offer for information or services anddistributing the request or offer. The method also includes matching thevisibility setting of a request or offer to complementary items in acomplementary one of the request or offer. The method also includesprocessing the match in accordance with the visibility specification toprevent any information about the existence or results of the match frombeing communicated to contrary to the visibility flags.

According to an additional aspect of the present invention, a computerreadable medium stores a data structure. The data structure represents ashareable database capsule including a content field that containsoffers and requests for information and services and a transmittalinformation field that contains information to control the distribution,matching and privacy of the sharing of the database capsule.

According to an additional aspect of the present invention, a systemincludes a server that includes a matching process that matchesinformation from a client with information from other hosts that arealso sending information to the server. The matching process includes amatching process to match wrapper information from a received capsule,where the wrapper information includes information that determines theuse of the information content of the capsule. The system also includesa client user device to interact with the server device. The client userdevice includes a database of personal interests and a process thateither offers and/or requests services and information based on thepersonal interests. The process includes a process to wrap content withcontrol information designating ownership of the content, the time spanthe content is valid, and rules specifying how content is to be matched.

One or more aspects of the invention may have one or more of thefollowing advantages.

The invention connects people and electronic services by dynamicallymatching custom information stored on distributed databases. Users holdinformation on topics of interest. The information can be accumulatedand organized over time, produced or collected from various sources andcarried on a fixed computing device, or portable computing device like apersonal digital assistant (PDA) or cell phone. People can specifyinterests in hobbies, dining preferences, research topics, news, socialand cultural interests, personal information like clothing sizes, oractivities to participate in. Companies and other organizations cansupply information on products and services, useful facts, and otherinformation in response to requests for such information or as a generalbroadcast of information.

The basic content of the information is wrapped with information aboutits owner, the time span it will be valid, its audience, what pieces ofinformation are to be matched, what information is to be filled in, andwhat other actions are to occur if a match occurs. These data capsulescan be expressed as small fragments of information used to locate andobtain further information.

This system is suited, in particular, to mobile computing andcommunications situations because browsing, i.e., interacting with adevice in a changing mobile environment is highly limited. Instead ofbrowsing for information e.g., browsing the web, or receiving presetdata channels, users (mobile and fixed) specify requests or offers forinformation and services by sharing pieces of personalized databases.The information shared in the course of interaction is shielded viaprivacy features.

The invention enables users to control publication and dissemination ofpersonal, e.g., profile information, thus preventing hosts from knowingpreferences ahead of time and channeling information to the user. Theinvention enables users to manage their own databases of information andspecify or focus information that is of interest. A user's temporalinterest can be related to a user's current physical location.Information is sent to a matching process that tries to match theinformation with information that a host provides. The matching processcan be an intermediary service or a peer-to-peer process. Anintermediary matching server or process can be controlled such that thehost may never see private information even though its been analyzed bythe intermediary.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an arrangement to interface a virtual worldto a physical world.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of an information sharing process.

FIG. 3 is a diagram depicting client device screens.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram depicting a data distribution scheme.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of processing modules.

FIG. 6A is a diagram of a conceptual exchange capsule.

FIG. 6B is a diagram of an exchange data structure.

FIG. 6C is a diagram of the details of the exchange data structure.

FIGS. 7-12 are diagrams depicting details and examples of the datastructure of FIG. 6.

FIG. 13 is a diagram depicting client device screens for setting upcapsule transmittal data.

FIG. 14A is a diagram depicting a plain text representation of anexemplary capsule implemented.

FIG. 14B is a diagram depicting a plain text representation of anexemplary capsule implemented in XML.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart of a match process.

FIGS. 16-18 are flowcharts depicting aspects of a matching process.

FIG. 19 is a flow chart depicting details of a visibility process.

FIG. 20 is a diagram of a privacy process.

DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1, an arrangement 10 to enable a person to interact inboth a physical world 12 and an electronic (virtual) world 14 is shown.The physical world 12 contains stores, products, machines, other people,offices, etc., generally 12 a. The electronic world 14 contains servers15 that deliver news and information, and provide virtual stores and anonline presence for the physical stores, products, machines, etc. Theservers 15 also provide interactions with people, through wired andwireless networks.

A person occupies a location 17 in the physical world and interacts withthe virtual world 14 through a computer, a cell phone or personaldigital assistant (PDA) or other types of electronic devicescollectively referred to as a client device 16. In some embodiments,portable, digital client devices 16 are used to interface a personbetween virtual and physical worlds. In arrangement 10, the clientdevices 16 contain a database that can hold a person's preferences andinterests. The database is stored in computer readable form within thedevice 16. The electronic world 14 offers information or services to theperson. The device 16 includes an executable process 20 that associatesthese three realms in a useful manner.

The wireless client device, e.g., a PDA 16 a, is shown connected in anetwork comprised of servers 24, desktop PCs 26, networked appliances31, wireless receiver servers 28, and smart telephones 30. That is, theelectronic world 14 includes wireless and fixed servers 24, 26 and 28 ona network 29. The devices 16, if wireless, have a wireless transmission27 to the receiver servers 28, which are connected to the internet.

Each device 16, 24, 26, 28, etc. has shareable databases 36. Each device16, 24, 26, and 28, either offers and/or requests services andinformation from others of the devices 16, 24, 26, and 28. Informationcapsules about each shared database are distributed across the networkto client wired and wireless devices 16. A server 34 with a matchprocess 32 is shown, although this process can be run in any of theaforementioned devices.

Devices 16 that are local to a person's physical location cancommunicate via close range bandwidths and protocols directly or over alocal network in a peer to peer or client server manner. Devices 16 thatconnect into a global network can use standard communicationstransmissions for such devices, e.g., Internet and wireless Internetprotocols.

The physical location 17 of the client device 16 (or servers) can bepart of the information that informs the device or a matching process 32on a matching server 34 what kind of services are provided or arerelevant to the person. For example, the location of a wireless clientmaybe known as part of the standard protocol for the device. Entitiesthat comprise the physical environment such as stores, hospital, libraryand so forth have electronic presence also through servers 24 that existin the virtual world 14.

Stores, machines and other people also have a physical location 17′, aswell as an electronic'presence. In this scenario, the person's clientdevice 16, via a communication process (described below), sharesinformation about the person's interests and physical location, acrossthe network 29. Instead of asking a particular source for an answer, therequest for information is formed in a more general manner and matchedto information offered over the network 29. The responses may take intoaccount the person's physical location, time and context, and relate toitems in both physical and electronic realms.

The client device 16 has a small screen 40 that displays topics ofinterest 41, a reply item of interest 42, with a small map 42 b to getto the place shown 42 a. For example, a restaurant whose physicallocation is at the same general location as the person also has a server24 that sends information to the display 40 on the client device 16.

The personal information that is stored on the client device 16 iscommunicated to the host telecommunications device 28. The informationcan be stored in the client device 16 or could be stored on a privateserver and host machines could query the private server. A matching host34 receives the communicated information. The matching host includes amatching process 32 that is coupled to the network 29.

Referring to FIG. 2, a process 70 of sharing information is shown.Information is shared by composing 72 matchable items such as offers orrequests for information or services.

An offer or request is packaged 74 with parameters used to controldistribution and privacy of the information as it is distributed amongcomputers. The requests and offers are optionally stored 76 inpersonalized databases containing other topics. Each item within acollective can be selectively activated for sharing based on time,location or other factors. Selected offers and requests are activelydistributed 80 into the computing environment. This can be a localinteraction between two local devices or via a network. The offers andrequests are collected by a variety of machines and compared 82 withinformation contained within these devices. A matching process 32 isconducted to match corresponding and/or complementary offers andrequests. Responses 84 for matched offers and requests are sent toparties based on mutually compatible privacy and distribution settings.

As a result of matching 82, a process can be used to refine 83 a queryback to the client or host/server systems until there is a suitablematch. For example, if asking for restaurants, a refinement process caninclude sending a modified inquiry that requests information by subtypeof restaurant to reduce the answer size.

Very private information can be handled via local sensing 78 instead ofdistribution. Once the information is matched and filled either locallyor remotely an adequate response is obtained 84. The response can betransmitted and include information, a service, or a referral. Theresponse typically comes from the host. The response is queued andresults are displayed on the client device 16. Items within thedatabases are focused, i.e., selected based on interests of the userexpressed in the received capsule. The selection process can beperformed automatically through time and location settings for any item.A client device 16 can share focused items over via trusted hosts thatperform comparisons, as will be described below.

Referring to FIG. 3, content such as web pages, personal data, notesetc. are accumulated and edited to make up one's personalized content.For example, a person's database can have topics 41 such as artexhibitions 41 a, lunch preferences 41 b, travel plans 41 c, socialactivities 41 d, information on hobbies, etc. In this example, theselected or activated topic “lunch”, expands to show collectedinformation 42 on a matched restaurant name, such as telephone number,specials, address, directions, etc. Selecting the link to “reservations”can initiate a call to the restaurant using a voice connection, or adata message to make a reservation.

Matches for shared topics 41 are the result of content 44 that hasshareable, matchable, and fillable elements. The topic “Lunch” 41 b hascontents 44 that are tabular 45 with attributes 45 a and blank fieldvalues (i.e., slots) to fill 45 b. In this example, the content setuprecord with attribute “Place” and blank value 45 c, is matched and shownas “Place: Dan's Sea Grill”. Similarly, the values for the attributes“Reservations” 45 d, “Location” 45 e, “Hours” 45 f, and “Specials” 45 gare filled in and shown in the match 42, with lines 45 d′, 45 e′, 45 f′,45 g′ respectively.

A second example match 42′ is shown with topic “Coffee for friends” 41d. Whereas the match displayed for “Lunch” 41 b is tabular, withattributes and filled in values, the match shown for 42′ is free formtext 46, also with tagged values 46 b filled in 46 c.

Thus, referring back to FIG. 2, in this example, the topic “Lunch” getspackaged 74 and submitted into a store of other requests and offers.Within a matching process 32 offers and requests are collected. Theseoffers and requests may refer back to other material such as on websites. Whereas documents on web sites are primarily for reading bypeople who visit and browse the site, the offers and requests shown hereare actively distributed 80 capsules that can be collected by a varietyof machines and compared within various contexts. These offers andrequests can come from servers belonging to electronic businesses orphysical businesses, or from people who likewise send or requestinformation to share. Unlike E-mail or other forms of messages, thesecapsules do not have to be directed to a specific audience or request aparticular resource or product. There may be no match available at atime (t1) but a match could occur at a later time (t2) within thecapsule's life span. Requests and offers shown may not be forinformation but for a service that can be rendered or arrangedelectronically.

The device 16 a determines how and whether information is transmitted.The information is collected and personalized to specify information andservices to request or offer. An offer or request is sent 80 in apeer-to-peer or client-server environment. Some information based onpersonalization in the client is sent from the device 16 a to thematching server 34. The information is matched with a variety ofdifferent services from other hosts that are also sending information tothe server 34. The information sent by the servers can either be in thephysical area of the client or they can be services that are genericservices, which do not have a physical presence in the physical locationoccupied 17 the client.

Referring to FIG. 4, a person, a store, restaurant, museum, touristbureau 24 e, and e-business each have shareable databases of informationand services 36 stored in their PDA 16 and host computers 24 a, 24 b, 24c, 24 d. The shareable data is sent a host's 34 matching process 32 forcomparison.

Referring to FIG. 5 a participating device e.g., 16 can include a senseprocess 90, an interpreter 92 and a relay process 94. The device canalso include a response process 96 and a process that can provide anoptional array of services 98 such as to connect on an online chat. Thedevice 16 includes a matching engine 100 that conducts a matchingprocess, a data store and retrieval module 102, and a module toautomatically focus 104 items in the database based on context. Eachdevice acts either as a host 32 to other devices without suchfunctionality 33 or as a peer 32′. TABLE 1 Entity Transmittal type ModeOn (topic) Audience 1 Person Requests Information Place to dineRestaurant, tour guide, friends 2 Person Requests Activity Meeting withco-worker My company 3 Person Requests Information Train scheduleTransit authority 4 Person Requests Connection Conversation with friendFriend 5 Person Offers Connection Conversation with friend Friend 6Retail Store Offers Information Products for sale Person 7 Retail StoreOffers Information Hours open Person 8 Retail Store Offers InformationStore location person 9 Company Offers Information Catalog of productsPerson or company 10 Company Offers Information Services availablePerson or company 11 Company Requests Transaction Purchase of productsCompany 12 Museum Offers Information Exhibitions Person 13 RestaurantOffers Information Menu Person 14 Restaurant Requests Activityreservation Person or company 15 Restaurant Offers Information Specialsof the day Person 16 Restaurant Offers Information location Person 17Bank Offers Calculation Mortgage rate Person 18 Bank Offers InformationAccounts available Person or company 19 Credit card Offers TransactionCredit purchase/sale Person or company company 20 Credit card OffersInformation Promotional interest rate Person company 21 News OffersInformation Financial news Person organization 22 News RequestsInformation Survey question Person organization 23 Hotel OffersInformation Rooms for the night Person 24 Hotel Requests Activity Roomreservation person 25 Transit Offers Information Train schedules anyoneauthority 26 Search engine Offers Information Web page links Person

Examples of shared topics are shown in TABLE 1. These topics aredescriptive example listings within shared databases 36 owned by people,stores, companies, museums, restaurants, and other traditional 12 a andelectronic entities 14. Each shared topic is a request or offer forinformation or service, on a particular topic and for an audience. Forexample, a person may request information on dining. In contrast, aperson may also request to meet with a co-worker. The first is a requestfor information, the second example is a request for an activity tooccur. Requests and offers may be satisfied, i.e., matched withinformation and services from sources that change with location orcontext. The specification of audience, as will be described in detaillater, is not limited to a specific person, company or URL, but ingeneral terms that can be assigned during processing. In the presentexample, information on dining may be filled by offers for informationfrom restaurant guides, newspapers, individual restaurants, and evenpersonal sources such as friends. The matches will depend on part on thenarrowness or broadness of the audience allowed. This is set by eachshared element's owner and is matched to a complementary element iffound. In such a situation, companies and other public entities maytarget their information and services to a broad audience or a veryspecific audience—such as tourists or shoppers, while individuals maytarget their shared elements in a manner more selective and personalmanner.

Each shared offering or request, as exemplified in Table 1, is a smallexpression that can persist over time and is collected and disseminatedelectronically. As such, this data is an extension of a person ororganization into an electronic arena, to be inspected 90, matched 100,stored 102 and relayed 94. Various participants will make offerings andrequests in varying degrees of privacy. For example, the offering of astore sale is a public announcement meant to reach a broad audience,while the interest of a potential customer is a private inquiry. Apotential customer may even want to be totally anonymous and ‘windowshop’. Privacy in this system has many facets, including the privacy ofidentity, of expressed interest, of transmission, information andprocessing. Methods for controlling the privacy during such a sharingprocess will be described below. TABLE 2 Dinner with 1.0 Person RequestsActivity friends friends 1.1 Requests Information Popular placesRestaurant to dine guide 1.2 Requests Information Cuisine friendspreferences 1.3 Requests Activity Reservation Restaurant

Table 2 shows how individual shared elements an be combined to make amore complex ‘scenario’. For example, a person's request for dinner withfriends may break down to requests for information about places to dine,types of cuisine preferred, and reservations. These individual requests(or offers) may be directed to different audiences and have otherdifferent traits, but act as a unit.

As shown in Table 3, various types of requests and offers forinformation and services are shown. TABLE 3 Mode\Nature Request to Offerto Information Request to receive Offer to provide informationinformation such as on a on topics. Sites and search topic or from aperson or engines could provide this organization. content. TransactRequest to perform a Offer to perform a transaction transaction between2 or between 2 or more parties, more parties resulting in a resulting ina contractual contractual exchange. exchange. Connect Request to connectto a Offer to connect to a service. service, such as a news channel,discussion, or activity. Relay Request to relay Offer to act asintermediary information across to relay information from networks, topeople, one party to another. machines across gateways. Store Request tohave Offer to provide storage of information stored. information.Calculate Request to have a Offer to perform a calculation. calculationperformed. Other Request for custom service. Offer for custom service.

For example, a shared capsule can offer information on a topic with arequest for information on a topic (request to receive or offer tosend). A shared capsule can also request to perform a transaction oroffer to perform a particular transaction—such as a credit cardtransaction. The shared capsule can also offer a request to connect to aperson, or a discussion group or organization or offer to satisfy thisconnection. The shared capsule can also request to relay information oroffer to perform the associated service. The shared capsule can alsooffer or request to have information (contained in the contents) stored,and offer or request for a calculation to be performed.

The arrangement 10 uses the shared capsule for sharing information andfor matching requests and offers for information and/or services. Thearrangement 10 breaks down these activities into small granular portionsof information that can be acted on. Beyond sharing information, thearrangement 10 can be used to find an available computer to perform acalculation, or the best rate to finance a purchase and saletransaction, or a server to store information. Matching of requests andoffers can be extended to the matching of any set of elements. Requestsand offers for information and services is one example of a two-elementpairing.

Referring to FIG. 6A, the shareable capsule 120 contains contents 122and transmittal data 123 used to control the distribution, matching andprivacy of the sharing. The shareable capsule 120 possesses theproperties of opacity 120 a, association 120 b, and materiality 120 c.Opacity or visibility is the degree to which its ownership isidentifiable, its contents are readable, the processing of the data isvisible, and the matching effect is made known to participants. Theassociation property is the matching of the shared capsule's by itscontents, location, active time periods, permitted hosting, permittedprocessing, and matching of categories and contexts. The materiality ofthe shared capsule expresses whether the capsule is an offer of existinginformation or service, or request for a desired information or service,and its specific type.

Referring to FIGS. 6B and 6C, a data structure 120 that represents ashareable ‘capsule’ used to contain information shared between devicesis shown. The shareable capsule includes a wrapper 121 that encapsulatescontent information 122 with various parameters that are used tofacilitate sharing of information content. These parameters includefields for specifying ownership 124, location 126, and life span 128 ofthe capsule represented by the data structure 120. The data structure120 also contains fields for specifying binding rules 130 andspecifications that determine how the contents 122 can be associatedwith other information, how a response is handled when returned 132, andtransmittal details 134 on the nature of the capsule.

The wrapper 121 (collectively fields 123) can be read and used withoutaccess to the content 122. The content 122 can be encrypted separatelyfrom its wrapping to provide added security. Individual parts of thewrapper 121 can also be encrypted separately so that only particularaudiences or hosts can use this information. The ownership can bespecified via a handle, to provide anonymity to the owner except to atrusted provider. The resolution of the handle can be made known onlythe trusted provider.

The location information is useful for mobile purposes. The datastructure capsule is also encapsulated in information that pertains to atransmission protocol e.g., TCP/IP, etc., used to transmit the capsuleto servers or other devices.

Referring to FIG. 7, a data structure 122 that represents the sharedcapsule contents is shown with example data 122′. The type of contentsis “XML” 122 a. The tags to be matched are listed 122 b. The place-marksfor contents that are to be filled during a match are identified 122 c.The tagged contents data is specified 122 d.

Referring to FIG. 8, a data structure 124 that represents ownership isshown with example data 124′. The primary host specifies a host computerthat represents the user. The ownership type field specifies whether thenamed owner is a name, an email address or a handle 124 a. A handle is aname that masks the identity of the owner and is known by the primaryhost 124 c. The data contained in the capsule is thereby disassociatedwith its actual owner via the handle. In the example, the identifiertype is a handle. The identifier is a fictitious name known to resolveto an actual client's name by the specified primary host. A user'shandle can be changed frequently and be resolved to its owner by itstrusted hosts.

Referring to FIG. 9, a data structure 126 that represents locationinformation is shown. The location information is useful for mobileclient devices. The user's current location can be specified in avariety of ways, for example, by decreasing scale of country, state,city, neighborhood, and street fields 126 b. The scope 126 a is used tospecify respondent location requirements. For example, only respondentswith a physical location presence may be desired. Scope could also bewithin a micro area such as a room, or within an office building, acity, state, country or global bounds.

Referring to FIG. 10, within a client database, the life span datastructure 128 is used to test for automatic activation and distribution.After distribution, the life scan of the shared capsule specifies whenthe material is active or relevant. Thus, the life span data structure128 includes fields 128 a-128 e that specify date created, expires,starts, ends, and repeat cycling respectively. The time frame can be aperiod of time within each day, for a range of days. Activities such aslunch or business activities would fit into such repeating time periods.

Referring to FIG. 11, the binding data structure 128 specifies theaudience 130 a to which the content information is directed. Theaudience field 130 a can be very specific, such as one person, orgeneral such as anyone from a company. The audience can further specifythe hosts that can perform the matching process. The audience 130 b canalso be specified generally by topic. For example, the hierarchicaltopic “restaurants”, and a sub topic “seafood.” A topic or topichierarchy can be specified from a particular source. The binding canalso specify an audience not to allow binding to. The match process isexpected to honor the audience specification of each capsule. Thebinding data structure 130 also includes fields for match rules 130 b.Match rules 130 b can specify the quality of match that is acceptable,for individual aspects of the wrapper and the content. For example,location can require a precise match, preventing matches that arecorrect down to the city but not to the street level, for example. Thematching server can be specified in priority, such as first in the local(user) device and then using a trusted host. This can control thesecurity of the processing. The data structure 130 also includes a field130 c for rules on how material is to be filled. For example, only asummary of the contents may be filled and returned, or only a heading. Aprivacy setting field 130 d can include a visibility setting, {IN, OUT,BOTH, IN+, OUT+} and an encryption setting. The contents and parts ofthe wrapper can be selectively encrypted to selectively protect itscontents. A quick binding field 204 e can include agreed to identifiersbetween known parties that can be used to signify that the item can bematched with minimal evaluation of other information. This can bespecified to allow or deny matching with a particular audience with aparticular id without evaluation of other aspects of the capsule.

Referring to FIG. 12, the transmittal detailed information datastructure 134 has a mode field 134 that identifies the shared datapackage as either a request or an offer. It further has a field 134 bthat designates whether the mode is a request or an offer to receive,send, connect, run, transact, relay or store or calculate. The naturefield is open to future modes via ‘other’. The transmittal info furtheridentifies the package via an identifier field 134 c. The identifier caninclude a thread id to track a sequence within a set of informationexchanges. A title field 206 d describes the request/offer.

Referring to FIG. 13, the setup of the shared capsule data structure 120is shown as a series of screens suitable for a small computing device50. The major setup components of the listed 51 for a particular topic41. Some setup items are general to the person while others are specificto a topic. The content setup 44 is shown here and described earlier inFIG. 4. The setup for owner 52, transmittal details 53, binding 54,location 55, life span 56 and respond 57 are shown as small devicescreens.

Referring to FIG. 14A, an example 120′ of a plain text representation ofa shared capsule data structure 120 is shown. The capsule begins with atransmittal specification 134′. The capsule includes life span 128′ andlocation fields 126′. The capsule also includes binding 130′ and content122′fields. In this example, the capsule 120′ is an offer to sendinformation. As such, parameters in the binding field are set to reachas wide an audience as possible, via the “Allow bind all.” Furthermore,the visibility setting, as will be described in detail later, is set to“Notify OUT+.” This visibility setting enables offering informationoutward with the option to receive notices back of matches. The bindingfurther allows all hosts to be used for matching, and allows thisinformation to be relayed to other hosts. The topic binding specifiessets of hierarchical topics that this information can fall under. Forexample, the information can be included under “restaurant” and alsounder “banquets”. The content information 122′ shown is specified as a“Fragment” as described below. The data specifies in a concise notation,“Royal Panda” as an instance of a Chinese restaurant with attributessuch as the specialties and links to reservation information. Thiscontent could as well be represented in a tagged format such as HTML orXML, as shown in FIG. 14B.

Referring to FIG. 15, the match process 160 proceeds to evaluate thewrappers and process the contents of received capsules. Under somecircumstances, quick binding, as described earlier in FIG. 11 204 e, canallow skipping the individual matching process 160 a, life span 160 c,transmittal 160 d, binding 160 e, and audience 160 f. Each match process160 a-160 f can have its own settings for using or not using particularaspects of the wrapper 101. If the evaluation of the wrapper produces anadequate match, then the contents can be examined. The content matching160 g may require subsequent interactions 160 h to refine the content.If there is material to supply and fill 160 i, then filling isperformed. Filling of missing information can be requested depending onthe type of request.

Referring to FIG. 16, a process 240 to match content is shown. Differenttypes of offers and requests are matched and processed accordingly. Thecontent matching process 240 determines 242 content type and obtains 244match and fills methods based on content type. Thus, as shown, aninformation offer/request matches 246 content for request to receiveinformation with an offer to supply information. Similarly, atransaction offer/request matches 248 requests for transactions with anoffer to process transactions. Other processes 250-256 for connection,relay, store, calculate, and so forth can be provided. Offers ofinformation are only relevant to requests for information, for example.The process of matching requests and offers for information areelaborated below. Custom specified offers and requests for informationand services can be specified beyond the ones shown.

Referring to FIG. 17, matching a request and offer to provideinformation 246 proceeds dependent on the type of content. The process246 determines 246 a the type of content and retrieves 246 bcorresponding match and fill methods. The process will have differentactions depending on the type of content. For tagged content 247, suchas HTML or XML, the process includes matching term usage 247 a, the tagstructure 247 b and the tagged contents 247 c. This does not have to beas strict as an XML DTD (extended markup language data type definition)validation, in order to return a match. The process determines oridentifies 247 d requested slotted areas to fill.

For tabular content 249, the process compares 249 a the database schemaof the content. Since schemas from different sources may be problematic,a flexible comparison of tables, fields, and relationships may enable amapping 249 b in order to satisfy some requests. The process will run249 c a query based on the mapped schemas.

The content can also take the form of a fragment database 251, asdescribed below. Such a database defines information as fragmentedobjects, in terms of classifications, instance names, attributes,values, actions, conditions and containers. The process 246 thenevaluates 253 if the representation is su ted for sharing and matchinginformation.

Referring to FIG. 18, for content represented as a fragment database,the content matching 251 proceeds by reading 251 a match rules,standardizing 251 b terms and comparing primitives 251 c. Comparingprimitives 251 c includes matching classification sequences, matchingnamed items, matching memberships, i.e., parts and subparts, matchingroles between objects, and matching activities. The general propertiesbelonging to a classification and particular properties belong to aninstance can be matched.

Referring to FIG. 19, a set 270 of visibility methods are shown. TABLE 4depicts for one embodiment allowable matches of visibility methods. InTABLE 4, “YES” entries are allowable matches, whereas “NO” entries areprohibited matches. By conforming to this visibility protocol, partiescan share information and services with user-selected visibility. TABLE4 Internal\External IN IN+ OUT OUT+ BOTH IN NO NO YES YES NO IN+ NO NOYES YES YES OUT YES YES NO NO NO OUT+ YES YES NO NO YES BOTH NO YES NOYES YES

As shown in FIG. 19, selecting a visibility method includes determining272 what visibility method type to send and setting that visibilityvalue in the visibility field of a capsule to be sent. A person whowants to ‘window shop’ wants to receive information 274. If such aperson wants to be seen, the Notify IN+ setting is enabled 274 b.Otherwise the Notify IN setting is enabled 274 c, which indicates thatthe person does not want to be seen, i.e., identity or presence beingmade known to a responder.

A store that wants to offer goods and services 276 to as broad anaudience as possible, would set 276 b the visibility method as “NOTIFYOUT.” A store that wanted to know who would like to know informationabout visitors would set 276 c NOTIFY OUT+, to receive information ifavailable. If a store or person desired a mutual exchange of information278, a sent capsule would have the more restricting NOTIFY BOTHvisibility method set 278 a. This method would require an exchange ofinformation.

The visibility setting for each shared data package can be determined byits intended purpose. If the purpose is to receive information andservices, then the visibility is to be directed IN-ward. If outsidevisibility is not permitted while receiving information, then thevisibility is set to “IN.” If outside visibility is needed in order toreceive information, then Visibility is set to “IN+.”

If the purpose is to offer information and services, then the visibilityis to be directed OUT-ward. If no information needs to be returned,i.e., the audience who receives such information is not identified, thenvisibility is set to “OUT.” If identification of audience is desired ifallowed, then visibility is set to “OUT+.” If an exchange is desiredbetween multiple parties with equal visibility, then visibility is setto “BOTH.”

Referring to FIG. 20, a client device 16 has a shared database 36containing a capsule 120 with content 122 and transmittal parameters123. Some of this information is selectively encrypted such as thecontents 122. This capsule is distributed 80 to a primary host computer24 a. The primary host computer knows the identity of the client device16 user as “dan” and changes it to a handle 124 c “happyfrog” beforedisseminating the information. From then on, the capsule's owner isshielded. The data is disseminated and collected 82 by other hostcomputers for comparison and matching. Within a matching server 34 thereis a matching process 32 that is trusted, i.e., performs matches withoutallowing inspection of processing or results from outside the process32. In this example, the information from device 16 is matched withanother device 24 b. A successful match is responded to 84 back to thedevice 16, but not to the other user 24 b in this example, based onvisibility rules as described in FIG. 22 and Table 4, as would be thecase for a visibility flag of IN.

Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.

1-28. (canceled)
 29. A method for conducting commerce where informationand services are provided to customers comprises: selectively activatingshareable database capsules from information contained in personalized,shared databases, the shareable database capsules comprising fields thathave property characteristics of the shareable capsule, includingvisibility and sharing settings, and a content field that includesinformation to be shared or match with other shareable databasecapsules; distributing the shareable capsules over a networkcommunications medium as matchable capsules; matching the matchablecapsules with other complementary matchable capsules; and distributingan indication of the existence of and results of a match of a pair ofmatchable capsules according to visibility settings for the matchedcapsules.
 30. The method of claim 29 wherein the shareable capsulesinclude information in the content field pertaining to offers orrequests for information or services.
 31. The method of claim 29 whereinthe visibility settings include a setting of IN, OUT, BOTH, IN+, OUT+and the method further comprises: determining allowable combinations ofvisibility settings of the matched capsules.
 32. The method of claim 29wherein the activation of shared items is based upon a geographiclocation of the customer.
 33. The method of claim 29 wherein theactivation of shared items is based upon the time of transmission of theshareable capsule.
 34. The method of claim 29 wherein the activation ofshared items is based upon personal and environmental conditions. 35.The method of claim 29 wherein the distribution of shared items isdirectly between local wireless or wired devices.
 36. The method ofclaim 29 wherein the distribution of shared items is over the Internet.37. The method of claim 29 wherein the property characteristics of thecapsules have transmittal sections.
 38. The method of claim 29 whereinthe property characteristics of the capsules include ownership,location, life span, binding and transmittal details.
 39. The method ofclaim 29 wherein matching compares transmittal and contents betweencapsules.
 40. The method of claim 29 wherein matching screens visibilityof the existence of a request or offer.
 41. The method of claim 29wherein matching screens visibility of the results of a request oroffer.
 42. The method of claim 29 wherein the capsule specifies theallowable audience and hosts to conduct a match with. 43-54. (canceled)55. A computer program product residing on a computer readable medium,for conducting commerce where information and services are provided tocustomers, the computer program product comprises instructions to causea computing device to: selectively activate shareable database capsulesfrom information contained in personalized, shared databases, theshareable database capsules comprising fields that have propertycharacteristics of the shareable capsule, including visibility andsharing settings, and a content field that includes information to beshared or match with other shareable database capsules; distribute theshareable capsules over a network communications medium as matchablecapsules; match the matchable capsules with other complementarymatchable capsules; and distribute an indication of the existence of andresults of a match of a pair of matchable capsules according tovisibility settings in the matched capsules.
 56. The computer programproduct of claim 55 wherein the visibility settings include a setting ofIN, OUT, BOTH, IN+, OUT+ and the computer program product furthercomprises instructions to: determining allowable combinations ofvisibility settings of the matched capsules.
 57. The computer programproduct of claim 55 further comprising instructions to activate shareditems based upon a geographic location of the customer or the time oftransmission of the shareable capsule or upon personal and environmentalconditions.
 58. The computer program product of claim 55 furthercomprising instructions to match the property characteristics of thecapsules where the property characteristics of the capsules includeownership, location, life span, binding and transmittal details.
 59. Anapparatus, comprising: a computing processing device; a memory forexecuting a computer program product; and the computer program product,for conducting commerce where information and services are provided tocustomers, the computer program product comprises instructions to causethe computing device to: selectively activate shareable databasecapsules from information contained in personalized, shared databases,the shareable database capsules comprising fields that have propertycharacteristics of the shareable capsule, including visibility andsharing settings, and a content field that includes information to beshared or match with other shareable database capsules; distribute theshareable capsules over a network communications medium as matchablecapsules; match the matchable capsules with other complementarymatchable capsules; and distribute an indication of the existence of andresults of a match of a pair of matchable capsules according tovisibility settings in the matched capsules.
 60. The apparatus of claim59 wherein capsules include the visibility settings of IN, OUT, BOTH,IN+, OUT+ and the computer program product comprises instructions to:determine allowable combinations of visibility settings of the matchedcapsules.
 61. The apparatus of claim 59 wherein the computer programproduct further comprises instructions to activate shared items basedupon a geographic location of the customer or the time of transmissionof the shareable capsule or upon personal and environmental conditions.62. The apparatus of claim 59 wherein the computer program productfurther comprises instructions to match the property characteristics ofthe capsules where the property characteristics of the capsules includeownership, location, life span, binding and transmittal details.
 63. Theapparatus of claim 59 wherein the computer program product whereininstructions to match further comprise instructions to: comparetransmittal and content fields between capsules.